The Patriot Files :: Dedicated to the preservation of military history

Headquarters Co, B,. 84th Reg.
Blue Springs, Tenn
April 11, 1864
Dear Aunt,
It is with great pleasure that I seat my self to drop you a few lines of pleasure. I am well and harty and hope this may find you the same.

9849 Reads

Arrival in Country

I think it is safe to say that everyone's first impression upon arriving in country to Vietnam was unique to that individual. It would be dependent on a persons' expectations and what his life experiences were subsequent to arrival, as-well-as, the time and place you came in country. Even so, I expect that some common chords are shared in each.

Note: by Roland Kunkel 12077 Reads

Account of the Boston Massacre

It is [a] matter of too great notoriety to need any proofs that the arrival of his Majesty's troops in Boston was extremely obnoxious to its inhabitants. They have ever used all means in their power to weaken the regiments, and to bring them into contempt by promoting and aiding desertions, and with impunity, even where there has been the clearest evidence of the fact, and by grossly and falsely propagating untruths concerning them.

Note: by Captain Thomas Preston, 13 march 1770. 11177 Reads

Buried Alive

I have been through a most thrilling experience - one I shall never forget all my life. We had been strafing the enemy for some days, our artillery pounding them all along the line. Suddenly, at 4.53 o'clock on Sunday morning last the order came to charge. We went over the parapet - the whole brigade, save one battalion. Our artillery fire lifted, and our boys calmly walked over to the opposing trenches, a barrage of fire being put behind the lines.

Note: by Sgt Harvey Gale 8682 Reads

Recollections of the Battle for Okinawa

The Laffey was built in Bath, Maine and was commissioned in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Navy Yard on February 8th, 1944. After a brief shakedown period, the ship participated in the Normandy Invasion in June 1944, after which she took part in the Cherbourg bombardment on June 25th, 1944 and suffered an eight-inch hit which fortunately did not explode.

Note: by Commander Frederick Julian Becton, USN, Commanding Officer of the destroyer USS Laffey (DD-724). 9463 Reads

Diary of Greece

21 April 1941
Today the sun is shining and Jerry Bombers have left us alone for a couple of hours. So will try and give a little more detail of events since we went into action. We evacuated our original position, overlooking Salonika. on the 9th. Hated leaving, but there was definitely the fear of being surrounded. So E troop remained behind to harrass and fight a rear-guard action.

Note: by Alan Jackson, 5th Field Regiment 8465 Reads

War Memoirs Sept. 1916 - May 1917

Monday 4th. Sept. 1916. Recalled from Leave. Ordered "out". Felt very 'bucked' with life. Train to Dunfermline, packed a few things and then off to Edinburgh. Terrific crowds at the station to see our train off. Slept on the floor of a third class corridor with a few drunken Canadians, who, I believe, talked to me most of the night without getting a reply. Cheery souls!

Note: by Robert Lindsay Mackay, 11th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. 8901 Reads

Diary, England & The Somme 1915-16

Preparation in England, 1915

Inspection by General Campbell.

Saturday March 15th on my birthday. Route march to Birmingham from Sutton. General inspection in Calthorpe Park at 2. General Campbell in passing lines asks me what I was before I joined. General salute at 3.30 pm Victoria Square, dismissed at 4pm near Corporation Street.

Note: by William Bernard Whitmore, 1st Birmingham Battalion 11611 Reads

Surrender of Michilimackinac

Detroit, 4 August 1812
Sir-I take the earliest opportunity to acquaint your excellence of the surrender of Michillimackinac, under my command to His Britannic majesty's forces under the command of Captain Charles Roberts, on the 17th ult-the particulars of which are as follows:

Note: by Lieutenant Porter Hanks to Brigadier-General Hull. 12131 Reads

In the Monitor Turret

The keel of the most famous vessel of modern times was laid in the shipyard of Thomas F. Rowland, at Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in October, 1861, and on the 30th of January, 1862, the novel craft was launched. On the 25th of February she was commissioned and turned over to the Government, and nine days later left New York for Hampton Roads, where, on the 9th of March, occurred the memorable contest with the Virginia.

Note: by Commander S. D. Greene, U.S. Navy 11030 Reads

Chancellorsville, 1863

Saturday, May 2, 1863 A pleasant day, the Rebs ominously silent. We expected an attack early & vigorous. Soon after …. moved from the field & took up a position on the extreme left of the 11th corps. Commenced an advance ab’t. noon.

Note: by Caspar Tyler of the 141st Pennsylvania Infantry. He witnessed the death of his Cousin Logan Tyler as they were beating off the furious attack of Stonewall Jackson. 141st had the misfortune to be stationed right behind Howard's Corps as they gave away under Jackson's relentless attack. 9377 Reads

You Can Always Learn

As I sometimes did, when the information for the next day's mission was slow in coming in, I would not call my driver but just get in my car and drive myself around the perimeter track, stopping now and then to talk to the men working on the planes. Of course, everything was blacked out. To drive we used a mere slit of light from the car's headlights to see the road.

Note: by Joseph A. Moller, Commanding Officer, 390th Bomb Group 9953 Reads

6th New York Heavy Artillery in the Wilderness

Headquarters, 1st Brig., 3d Div. 6th Ar.
Near Gaines Mills
June 4, 1864
Dear Ha: I have just received a letter from you and as a mail will leave in an hour or two, I hasten to answer. We are behind entrenchments, holding a position which we have just taken from the enemy. Bullets, as I write, are flying in all directions, and wounded and dead men pass me continually.

Note: Letter from Chas. Leonard to his father in the trenches, Virginia countryside near Richmond, Va. 10236 Reads

Strange Day

I was on a S&D with the RFs. We were moving along a heavily vegetated canal with open rice paddies to our flanks. The VC were waiting for us and we got into a sharp firefight. It was head-on and we could not maneuver against them because of the paddies. To our front, a small finger of vegetation stuck out from Charlie's positions, so we decided to assault it in an attempt to flank them.

Note: by Don Steiner 10472 Reads

Letter #3, Paul O'Connell, Mike Co., 3rd Bn, 5th Marines.

20 Oct 68
Dear everybody,
Well it's another rainy day in Vietnam. When they say its been known to rain 40 days and nights you can believe it.

Today I had to fill sandbags and build a bunker where a mortar round came in last night. No big worry. It was at least 300 yards away. That's for really!

8829 Reads

Do you think violence against U.S. forces in Iraq will diminish after Iraq holds its elections?